British Virgins Island court clears way for Access Bank to recover $220m debt from Orjiako
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A British Virgin Islands (BVI) commercial court has ruled in favour of Access Bank Plc, as the Nigerian lender moves to recover a $220 million debt from Bryant Orjiako, the ex-chairman and co-founder of Seplat Energy Plc, and his wife, Igra Orjiako.
Other defendants in the case are Abbeycourt Energy Services (BVI) Limited, Plumage Management Limited, Pursley Resources Limited, Neville Investment Management Limited, Sinclair Commercial Limited, Shebah Petroleum Development Company Limited (BVI), Salvic Energy Limited, and Salvic Petroleum Resources Limited.According to a court document seen by TheCable, the judgment, delivered on October 1, 2025, by Abbas Mithani, a high court judge, concerns a decade-long debt dispute that began with a $200 million syndicated loan to Shebah Exploration & Petroleum Company Limited (SEPCOL), a firm controlled by Orjiako.The loan, jointly provided by Afreximbank, Diamond Bank Plc, and Skye Bank Plc (both Nigerian banks are now defunct), was personally guaranteed by Orjiako.
A PROTRACTED LEGAL BATTLE
Details provided by the document indicated that SEPCOL had defaulted on the loan in March 2013. The lenders subsequently called in the loan and, by February 2014, demanded repayment under Orjiako’s personal guarantee and a corporate guarantee provided by Allenne Ltd, a BVI company.Later that year, the lenders reportedly initiated legal proceedings in England against SEPCOL, Orjiako, and Allenne Ltd to enforce repayment.
Although the case was initially settled on agreed terms, Orjiako was said to have breached the settlement, prompting the lenders to return to court and obtain summary judgment against him in 2016.
The document said Access Bank, as the successor to Diamond Bank, later acquired the claims of two of the original lenders and sought to enforce the English judgment in the BVI.
In April 2024, the BVI court, with Orjiako’s consent, issued an order recognising and enforcing the English judgment.
Following this, Access Bank initiated additional proceedings to restrict the defendants from disposing of or interfering with any of their assets pending the court’s final decision on the case.
According to the document, the bank alleged that several shell companies registered in the BVI — named as defendants in the suit — hold valuable share tranches in Seplat Energy Plc either directly or indirectly.
Access Bank contended that the shares are beneficially owned and controlled by Orjiako himself, despite his claim that they were transferred to his wife in 2014, following threats of legal action.
‘SHARES TRANSFER INTENDED TO DEFRAUD CREDITORS’
The summary judgment hearing took place in July 2025, with the ruling delivered in October.
In his ruling, Mithani said the evidence showed that Orjiako “retained beneficial ownership and control” of the companies despite transferring them to his wife.
The judge noted that Orjiako continued to act as sole director of the firms, “using the assets as if they were his,” including pledging them as security for personal borrowing.
The court concluded that the share transfers were “deliberate, systematic, and fraudulent,” describing Orjiako’s conduct as an attempt to “bury his case in a morass of irrelevant information” to delay enforcement.
“The intention on his part, in my judgment, was designed to delay and obfuscate matters in the hope that by doing so, he would delay the determination of the Claim and, as a consequence, steal a march on the Claimant and Dr Orjiako’s other creditors by hindering their ability to enforce the BVI Judgment,” the judge said.
Mithani ruled that the transfers were made with the intent to defraud creditors under Section 81 of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act (CLPA) of 1961.
He dismissed Orjiako’s claim that the transactions were part of “estate planning,” calling the explanation “not just fanciful but false.”
The judge also rejected the argument that the transfers were made out of the “natural love and affection” he has for his wife, stating that such sentiment “does not constitute valuable or good consideration” under the law.
“It has been held that a fraudulent intent may readily be established if the debtor cannot pay his debts without the asset transferred by him being available for the payment of his debts,” Mithani said.
“In the absence of any evidence suggesting that there was any other intent, it is difficult to see how the transaction can be said not to be with the intent to defraud creditors in the face of Dr Orjiako’s clear and obvious insolvency.
“The only other purposes given by Dr Orjiako for the transfer (estate planning and a desire to benefit his wife for the substantial contribution she made to his various businesses, and out of love and affection for her and to his sister for similar reasons) simply do not come up to scratch.”
The judge said Orjiako is indebted to the claimant for $220,298,038 (plus interest) “under a consent order made in the claim on 16 April 2024.”
Mithani also ordered that Orjiako is the sole beneficial owner of the shareholding companies, as well as the Salvic defendants — Salvic Energy and Salvic Petroleum BVI.
On August 11, 2023, a federal high court in Lagos granted an ex-parte order freezing the bank accounts of Orjiako over his alleged indebtedness to Access Bank Plc.
The court restrained Orjiako, his agents, privies or any other person or group of persons whatsoever, “from operating, withdrawing from or tampering with his funds in any bank and/or financial institution within Nigeria”, pending the hearing and determination of the case.
